Mutagen

Day 35 – 3:19 PM – Marikina-Infanta Highway, Real, Quezon

When Mark walked in an unhurried fashion away from the woman and her group, it was because he expected that these outlaws would start indiscriminately shoot at him. If he kept standing in front of the woman, the troublesome matter he expected to expose himself into would be for naught. Furthermore, he had something in mind and wanted to try it.

His [Shadow Mist Movement] creates a subspace where he could move to without hindrance and it enabled him to even move through small spaces that he was not supposed to be able to in reality through the distortion of space. In that case, he wanted to try if he could use that distortion in order to dodge the bullets. The fastest bullet of a high-caliber rifle might travel in more than two-thousand six-hundred feet per second but he was not worried about that speed since inside the subspace, his movement, perception and reflex were heightened into an unprecedented degree.

This time however, he only wanted to test the spatial distortion and only partially activated his ability. That was why even though there was black mist appearing around him, he did not vanish. On the other hand, the distortion in space made his figure rather blurry as the spaces contracted and retracted in very fast speeds in order to allow him to wave through the barrage of bullets.

To say, the experiment was a success and he was rather satisfied with the result. Still, it would only apply when he could see the source of the incoming bullets and the mental drain and strain was rather higher compared to fully activating the ability.

As for the experiment failing, he was not afraid of getting hit by one or two bullets. In case that the experiment failed, he could still dodge it anyway through fully activating [Shadow Mist Movement]. If he got hit by the bullets, he would still be fine. He could use his blood to remove the bullets inside his body and his body would heal in an unbelievable rate afterwards. Unless he was hit fatally and was killed on the spot, he would not die. It would still be a bit painful though. Besides, aside from his head, his other vital parts were all covered with his armor.

After the experiment was done, he started the slaughter.

He vanished from his spot turning into a wavy trail of mist that travelled faster that the eyes of most people could see. In every attack, he killed one or two of the outlaws that was already little in number. Even though there were obvious Evolvers with their group which were stronger or able to move faster than others, they were still killed. Well, except for these three.

The Mutator that looked like a saber tooth werelion could follow his trail of mist while the scout could amazingly pinpoint where Mark would appear and attack which enabled him to dodge. On the other hand, the sniper not only had a sharp eye but also a high leveled Evolver. For sure, he was not a Mutator as his speed was not as fast as the werelion but the difference were too little. Not to mention that the sniper was able to follow his trail of mist and run away before Mark could get into place and attack him. In case that the sniper was not able to outrun Mark, he would point his sniper rifle the instant that Mark appeared making Mark cancel the attack and retreat.

These three were surely on a different level. Sure enough, no all the outlaws here were generic Mobs and three boss and mini-boss levels were mixed among the flock of emaciated wolves.

"You already all of our men, can't you let us go? Either way, we can't kill you and you weren't able to kill us. Let's just call it quits."

The sniper yelled a proposition. What he said was true. Mark was not able to kill them and they were not able to kill Mark.

On the other hand, Sir Fang frowned at the proposition but he did not say anything while the scout was just waiting for something.

Hearing the proposition, Mark smirked. Yes, he was not able to kill them…

…it was because he was not really seriously fighting with them. He had other equipment and abilities in his body and he did not use any of those yet.

The three were confused because of Mark's infuriating smirk but then, they saw him put his right arm horizontally in front of his chest. They had noticed that there was something embedded on his strange colored bracer and it was a rectangular mechanism of some sort with two horns but they did not mind it. Now however, Mark pushed a button on the mechanism.

The rectangular mechanism spun one-hundred and eighty degrees making the small "horns" face backwards. Then, clicking sounds sounded in succession after the rectangular mechanism locked in place. The rectangular body extended forward and backward making it double in size and finally, the two "horns" clicked open like wings. Mark then pulled out what seemed to be a rectangular curved metal from under his bracer and pushed one end in into the mechanism.

Seeing the true form of the mechanism, Sir Fang and the Sniper frowned. The mechanism on the arm of their enemy right now was actually a miniature crossbow! They were able to avoid Mark's attacks because he was using his sword but now, they were not confident anymore. They were not sure if the weapon on their enemy's arm was strong or really working but they could not take risks anymore.

The sniper glanced at the scout and nodded. In tacit understanding, the scout ran away while Sir Fang and the sniper got in position to fight once more.

Seeing the scout run away, Mark shook his head. Even if the guy tried to run away to escape, he would not be escape from Mark if he chased. However, the guy was running up the mountain slope towards the direction where Amihan was hiding and where he left his backpack. It seemed that the guy was really able to detect living beings and probably thought that Amihan and the two [Blood Children] were just normal people or children maybe. Now, that guy was off to his death.

After all, even though Amihan was afraid of humans, she was not afraid to kill. She had experienced a lot worse in her more than a hundred years of living despite her childish countenance.

Mark vanished into black mist and moved towards the two enemies in front of him. This time, he appeared several meters away from the werelion and in a blind spot. Two dart sized needles shot in succession. The werelion was able to react when Mark appeared but he was not able to fully dodge the needles that were shot faster than bullets. He was able to evade being hit on his neck and forehead but in turn, his pointy right ear at the side and right shoulder were pierced by the needles.

"AHAG!"

The werelion could not help but feel wail in pain. The needle that hit his shoulder pierced through his shoulder bone and got painfully stuck. The needle might have even damaged his nerve as he seemed to have difficulty to move his right arm as he retreated.

Mark then vanished going towards the blind spot of the werelion once more. This time, he appeared longer and shot three needles in succession. The third needle flew towards the werelion's forehead while the first two were aiming for his legs. The werelion still managed to dodge the third one even though he sacrificed getting hit by the other two. The werelion could only kneel in pain but the longer time Mark appeared made the sniper shot a single bullet.

His aim and precision was good and really fast but if he wanted to hit Mark, he needed to be faster. As the bullet entered Mark's subspace, his figure blurred and the hope of the two outlaws shattered when the bullet passed through the blurry figure.

Mark then vanished several more times raining the dart sized needles towards the werelion ignoring the sniper that could not shoot anymore due to Mark correcting his mistake. The sniper glanced towards the upper section of the mountain where their scout, DeathEye, ran towards. His ability was to detect life force of living beings including trees and animals and was able to differentiate them. If DeathEye was correct, then, this monster in front of him had three children in tow. If they could use them as hostage, there would be a chance that they would be able to leave this place alive.

Then, a blood curling scream shattered the sniper, EagleEye and the werelion, Sir Fang's expectations. EagleEye and the already disabled Sir Fang could only look up by reflex as they felt a strong gust of wind entering the forested slope of the mountain. There, they saw DeathEye who was thrown in the air for about five story building high. When he reached the reached the final point of his accent, DeathEye plunged back down into the middle of the highway amidst his horrifying screams.

Head first, DeathEye hit the road. His head splattered like a watermelon.

Sir Fang and EagleEye were in a stupor and despair looking at DeathEye's fate. At the moment they took their attention away from Mark, a needle pierced through Sir Fang's forehead. His body fell down with his eyes wide open in shock.

EagleEye was the last living one. Unexpectedly, the guy bit something in his mouth and his mouth burst into uncanny bubbles and his body convulsed severely before he fell down.

"Suicide?"

Mark murmured in askance. He cautiously approached EagleEye and checked his pulse even though he did not want to touch the dirty outlaw. There was no pulse but Mark smirked with a cunning expression.

He then stepped back and said.

"Dead huh."

Mark turned around seeming to leave. Unexpectedly, he suddenly turned around and shot a needle towards EagleEye's heart. EagleEye's eyes suddenly opened in horror as he felt the pain entering his heart. He could only glance at Mark's armored back as he left. The eyes of EagleEye were filled with heightened confusion.

Leaving the area of battle, Mark made his way towards the pitiful group. It seemed that one of the two men, the driver, was already conscious and was sitting with his back leaning on their overturned jeep. Even though the man was already awake, Mark could not help but notice that the woman was staring at his face without tomorrow.

"Is there something on my face?"

Mark asked. Probably, his face was stained with blood. However, even though he asked that, he knew that it was not the case. After all, the eyes of the woman were filled with reverence towards the strong which made Mark feel rather conflicted. It was the same eyes Jollene was giving him when he was showing her how to fight effectively against the infected.

"Ah! No. No. Sorry if I stared too much."

The woman bashfully turned her gaze away.

"I want to ask some questions." Mark said but when he said that, the two conscious people in front of him looked at their unconscious comrades with complicated expressions. "Hahhh, I already saved you all to gather information, those two being unconscious had nothing to do with me. Besides, your group already brought me trouble."

The two came to realization but they could not just ignore their unconscious friends. There was no way for them to transport them either since by looking their jeep, it was surely out of commission. The front wheels were bent in uncanny angle and the main body was severely bent.

Then, the man spoke weakly as he reached for the metal case on the woman's hand.

"How about we trade something for your help? Is one of these enough?"

He showed the content metal case which contained three vials of blackish red liquid. One had lesser content than the two which was surely been used before.

"What is that?"

"The newest product of the laboratory in the military settlement in Infanta." The man said in a weak but proud manner. "Regeneration Medicine."